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AVIATION -BRITISH AIRWAYS
FLIGHTS |
British Airways resumes flights after two-day strike
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BY OUR AVIATION CORRESPONDENT
15th August 2005: Europe's third-largest airline, British Airways has resumed most
of its services from London's Heathrow airport, after a two-day strike crippled its
operations and stranded 70,000 passengers.
The airline has resumed about 80 per cent of long-distance, while 85 per cent of
its short-haul flights are expected to resume shortly. British Airways resumed their
normal service that were stranded after a ground-crew walkout, which resulted in
a strike. The strike had stranded over one-lakh passengers during the peak of the
summer travel season.
Over 535 flights were cancelled after 1,000 British Airways workers walked off
their jobs on August 11 in support of 650 fellow union members who were
dismissed by Gate Gourmet airline catering company a day earlier. Huge tents
were erected outside the terminals where passengers were given free coffee and
tea, and newspapers. Chicken sandwiches, apples and carrot sticks were also
provided, and entertainers were brought in to amuse the waiting children.
Gate Gourmet and the Transport & General Workers Union took their dispute to
arbitration. This is the fourth time in which British Airways' operations were
disrupted at Heathrow due to of labour disputes. A two-day strike in July 2003
cost the carrier about 40 million sterling pounds ($72.6 million).
Airline industry sources said that the public were
moving away from British Airways en masse to EasyJet and other low-cost carriers, including American
Airlines, Lufthansa, Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd and Air France-KLM Group.
The spokesman of Gate Gourmet said that the company have no plans to take
back those who participated in strike. He said that it will reinstate employees who
were not at work on August 10 and who did not strike.
Gate Gourmet, owned by a private equity firm of Texas Pacific Group, in a
statement said that it has not reported profits since 2000 and expects a loss of
25 million sterling pounds this year.
BY OUR AVIATION CORRESPONDENT
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